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When someone I worked with years ago invited me to present at the Money Show’s Accredited Investor conference, my initial reaction was “Pass.” These events tend to be a parade of broad economic/market analyses that I believe are useless to investors – how do they know who to believe? Who has a track record worth following? Is it the result of luck or skill? Will they be right this time? Etc.
The answer is you really can’t know in advance.
When I do quarterly updates for clients of RWM, they are all familiar with my methodology and process. And, they know my priors: track record, biases, preferences, conviction level, etc. Especially if I say something contrarian, they have seen those discussions before, so they can weigh them appropriately. Hence, my initial response to Fitz was “Thanks, but no thanks” on the basis that it wouldn’t be useful to investors.
But after a few days, an idea formed; I went back to Fitz with this: Rather than doing the usual “Buy this Sell that,” sort of presentation, what if I were to show this group of ultra-high net worth investors the obvious mistakes I have witnessed them making — and the steps they can take right now to fix them? I bet I could generate more in real-world returns AND help improve the quality of their life in 30 minutes than all the bullshit they have been sitting through chasing alpha over the past 20 years.
Fitzy loved the idea. I got started by reviewing with the rockstars at RWM – our Tax CPAs, financial planners, 401k experts, CFPs, and our head of wealth management. We discussed what I have witnessed firsthand over 3 decades to create a list of the biggest mistakes. We reviewed what we do as an organization to max out the triple net returns to investors, as well as increase the quality of the lives they lead.
The result is a 30-minute discussion that really resonated with this audience of UHNW investors. On the possibility that something in here might be of interest to you, I am sharing it here.
If any of this resonates with you, or if you have any questions about anything in this discussion, please reach out at info-at-ritholtzwealth.com, Or go to RitholtzWealth.com
